1. DEFINE YOUR PURPOSE
All decisions, indeed, all work, starts with this process. In a rapidly changing world, it ensures that all tasks and activities have a clear purpose. Your values are your beliefs about what is important and these, combined with a clear vision of the outcomes of your work, are the basic ingredients of “purpose” in all that you undertake. If you are clear about your values and vision, and if they are compatible with one another, you have answers to the vital question “why am I doing this?” This focus on long-term objectives ensures that all decisions, and the tasks and activities they
spawn, are consistent with the ultimate organizational direction.

Process/Competencies/Behaviors

Independence: Holds to own convictions in face of resistance either anticipated or actual.

Ability to Innovate:  Generating original and imaginative ideas and solutions to problems.

Positive Self-Image: Believing in oneself.

Conceptual Thinking: Identifying key issues, seeing relationships and drawing elements together into broad coherent frameworks.

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2. ESTABLISH YOUR GOALS
After the “why” of work has established a clear purpose and vision, the second key process-skill determines the “what”. Thinking strategically leads to a clear mission and a succinctly defined statement of goals that further guides the decision-making process. Strategic thinking is necessary in order to synthesize values, vision and goals, and to see the big picture. Once the exclusive preserve of top management, it now must pervade all levels of an organization. A clear mission provides the basis for the next two key processes: resourcing and prioritizing.

Process/Competencies/Behaviors

Initiative: Engaging in proactive behaviour, seizing opportunities.
Flexibility: Ability to alter behaviour and opinions in the light of new information or changing situations.
Strategic Thinking: Taking the longer term into consideration and developing broad scale objectives.
Analytical Thinking: Logically breaking problems down into their essential elements; carrying out diagnosis and developing solutions.
Results Orientation: Focusing attention on key objectives; wanting effective outcomes.

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3. FOCUS YOUR RESOURCES
The third process, which initiates the doing phase of work, helps individuals and organizations focus key resources – personnel, equipment, time, money – on specific goal-related activities and tasks, while maintaining the flexibility necessary to quickly and effectively adapt to change. It focuses energy on the quantitative side of the planning process and ensures resources are deployed effectively – a fundamental of achieving maximum productivity. The paradox of this process is that it helps deal with changes by allowing you to seize upon innovation and unexpected opportunity. That is, stay flexible while being focused.

Process/Competencies/Behaviors

Tenacity: Repeated and enduring efforts to overcome obstacles and/or to complete tasks.
Self-Control: Continuing to perform effectively in stressful and difficult circumstances.
Flexibility: Ability to alter behaviour/opinions in light of new information or changing situations.
Development Orientation: Identifying and providing opportunities to improve the capabilities of other people.
Efficiency Orientation: Looking for best use of resources.

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4. MANAGE YOUR PRIORITIES
All work is a mixture of things that are urgent and important. The peril is to give the urgent aspects priority to the detriment of what is important. Striking the optimal balance between the two and giving sufficient priority to important work is the fourth key process, a fundamentally important aspect of the “doing” phase of work. From the effective management of priorities springs the ability to get the right job done, not just the job done right. This is a critical distinction, one not lost on successful knowledge workers and organizations.

Process/Competencies/Behaviors

Results Orientation: Focusing attention on key objectives; wanting effective outcomes.
Self-Control: Continuing to perform effectively in stressful and difficult circumstances.
Thoroughness: Seeking completeness and accuracy.
Adaptability: Maintaining effectiveness in different situations, environments, and cultures.
Tenacity: Repeated and enduring efforts to overcome obstacles and/or to complete tasks.

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5. MEASURE THE EFFECTS
Performance expectations are the control processes of knowledge work. Every worker needs to establish how much (quantity) and how good (quality) – hence, the Quantity/Quality factor must be established if the work is to be measured. Once measured, knowledge work performance can be systematically and dramatically improved.

Process/Competencies/Behaviors

Results Orientation: Focusing attention on key objectives; wanting effective outcomes.
Concern for Standards: Pursuing excellence in line with the organization’s norms and values.
Self-Development Orientation: Taking continuous action to improve personal capability.

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6. OWN THE PERFORMANCE
The goal of this process is to build responsibility for productivity and performance into every job regardless of level, difficulty, or skill. Supervisors need to form partnerships with the people who are “doing” in order for them to take ownership of the job. Ownership leads to both personal and team accountability, and together they ensure higher levels of responsibility. Instead of avoid challenges, knowledge workers can then take initiative, seek out opportunities and “go beyond the call of duty”. They ‘own’ the work and get the job done right.

Process/Competencies/Behaviors

Positive Self-Image: Believing in oneself.
Initiative: Engaging in proactive behaviour, seizing opportunities.
Independence: Holds to own convictions in face of resistance either anticipated or actual.

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7. INFLUENCE THE PARTICIPANTS
Understanding how to operate in the federated, flattened organization is the key to outstanding performance. No worker can achieve in isolation any longer. Increasingly, as members of multidisciplinary teams, knowledge workers must function interdependently in order to excel. Influencing, negotiating and interpersonal skills, in particular, have taken on greater importance as hierarchies disappear. These skills drive the delivery phase of work, ensuring that projects, memos, ideas etc. do not vanish into the ‘white holes’ of an organization.

Process/Competencies/Behaviors

Critical Information Seeking: Gathering critical information from key sources to assist problem-solving.
Strategic Influencing: Being aware of different forms and sources of influencing when choosing between different influencing strategies.
Interpersonal Awareness: Drawing inferences about, and maintaining awareness of others’ interests, moods, and concerns.
Rational Persuasion: Building persuasive arguments based on logic, data and the objective merits of the situation.
Concern for Impact: Actively anticipating and responding to the feelings, needs, and concerns of others.

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8. CONTINUE THE IMPROVEMENTS
Finally, and most importantly, workers must possess an ability and willingness to continually improve people, products, and processes. With the information ‘big bang’ has come a world of constant change; a world in which the customer demands quality, variety, customization, convenience, and timeliness. Workers must continually challenge the status quo. Knowing how to learn is the most basic of all competencies because it is the key that unlocks future success and provides the means to improve effectiveness in all the essential knowledge processes. Continuous improvement, therefore, lies at the core of all knowledge work and transcends the three work phases.

Process/Competencies/Behaviors

Self-Development Orientation: Taking continuous action to improve personal capability.
Innovation: Generating original and imaginative ideas to solve problems.
Ability to Learn: Quickly understanding and applying information, concepts, and strategies.
Flexibility: Ability to alter behaviour and opinions in the light of new information or changing situations.

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